types of guitar scales

Welcome back! It’s about time we dive into the different types of guitar scales.
The pentatonic scale (or minor pentatonic scale) is probably the most used scale among guitar
players; It’s just really easy to play and to remember. Besides, there are so many great guitar
solos and styles based on just the pentatonic scale. It is part of the 5note
scale family
alongside of the major the major pentatonic and many other scales.
Here’s a diagram of an A minor pentatonic, starting on the 5th fret of the 6th string:
And an A Major Pentatonic, with its root on the 5th fret of the 6th string:
Then we also have 7note
scales. One of the most used and popular scales in this category is
the Major Scale. Let’s have a look at the C Major scale, with its root on the 3rd fret of the 5th
string:
Now what’s very interesting is that if you keep the same structure of the C major scale, but start
on a different degree, you get the Modes of the major scale. Let me explain this a little bit better.
The C major scale is composed of C, D, E, F, G, A and B. If we consecutively count the distance
between each note (from C to D there’s a whole tone, from D to E another whole tone and so
on) we end up with the structure of the major scale, or so call it the skeleton: WWhWWWh.
But if you keep the same notes of the C major scale but start on a different degree you end up
with a different structure. For example, if we start in F, you will end up with: WWWhWWh.
This is called the Lydian scale/mode. So you can literally do this for every degree of the major
scale and you will end up with the following structures:
This is all for today! I hope you enjoyed this lesson and if you are interested in learning more
about scales please visit the scales section on the blog